


it must be the stars

by skatershelley (niamdox)



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: First Meetings, I Don't Even Know, I don't really know what to tag this with?, Luke is just a big goofball, M/M, Mystery Character(s), artist!Ashton, i guess?, inapired by Noah and Brian from I'll Give You The Sun, which I'm reading right now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 13:29:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3611811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niamdox/pseuds/skatershelley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashton's an artist who likes to sleep on his roof and draw at night. And then someone appears on the roof next door.</p>
<p>That's actually a really bad summary, but you know. Whatever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it must be the stars

**Author's Note:**

> It's currently 4:34 in the morning and I got out of bed and went across the house to my laptop because AO3 won't like pasting from my tablet and if I don't post it now I'll probably forget about it.
> 
> Because I forget about everything I try and write lately.
> 
> Anyway, long time no fic and tags are kinda lagging these days, plus I'm reading this awesome book and it's inspiring me. This is kinda dumb, but I wrote it in an hour, in the middle of the goddamned night like I said. So mistakes are my own, please don't kill me for them, blah blah blah.

Ashton doesn't remember when he started spending nights on the roof, sketchbook and pencils in hand, drawing the noises of the night. He started keeping a pillow and a blanket up there. Stashed on top of a birds nest that was abandoned years ago. His mom never noticed that he hadn't slept in his room once for the entire school break, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it that way.

  
He's up there one night, sketching the sky above the next house over because the moon and the stars and the clouds are  _just right_  and they have to be preserved. It's not until he notices a vaguely person shaped shadow on the roof on a glance up that Ashton realizes he's being watched.

  
"Hello?" He calls out at the shadow tentatively, because he's not sure if his mind is playing tricks on him or not.

"Hello," the shadow parrots back. Definitely a real human, and not a trick of the light. The real human starts walking closer to the edge on his own roof. Ashton decides to do the same.

The houses aren't very far away from each other in Ashton's neighbourhood, so he can see this mystery person clearly from the roof's edge. They appear to be a boy, with blue eyes bright enough to illuminate the night. Ashton wants desperately to draw them.

"Hold still." He tells the boy and his eyes while he grabs for his book and his pencils and flips to a clean page. The boy chuckles, but otherwise does as he's told.

"You some kind of artist? Paint me like one of your French girls." He strikes a ridiculous pose that has Ashton rolling his eyes and shaking his head.  
He's looking down at his work and his hair is covering what little of his face would be visible, and he's thankful for that. Because he doesn't want Mystery Cute and Kind of Funny Guy to see his smile and light blush covering his cheeks.

When Ashton glances back up again, he's still holding his dumb pose, but at least he's looking forward. Which is all that matters since he's only really drawing those gorgeous eyes of his.

"So let me guess," Mystery boy breaks the silence. "You're the strong silent type. Except you're a sponge too, y'know? Soaking everything up so you can puke it back up as art."  
What a way with words.

Ashton says nothing, but hums in appreciation. The guy keeps talking.

"Like those guys in movies that're all snooze-tastic and shit until you get to know them and then it turns out they're really funny and smart and great in bed."

Ashton actually looks all the way up and raises and eyebrow at that one. "Did you just call me snooze-tastic?"

"No, I called you great in bed."

As it turns out, this guy not only has gorgeous eyes, but the smile to match. Ashton hears his blood start to roar in his ears and he has to quick turn his attention back to his drawing to hide how his face has turned bright red.

He doesn't even know this kid's name and he already has him utterly whipped. Ashton's pretty sure he's fucked.

Or. At least he'd like to be.

The cute guy goes quiet for a bit,  _still_ holding his stupid pose, and the only sounds either of them can hear are the bugs and animals in the woods and the gentle scrape of Ashton's pencil against the paper. It's almost enough to make Ashton forget that he isn't alone after all.

Or maybe he really is, and this guy that's like a fucking dream is just a figment of his imagination. Maybe he got bit by one of those poisonous spiders and it's venom causing a really realistic hallucination before it courses through his veins and into his heart.

"Can I see your drawing?" The silence is broken again, and Ashton is dragged out of his thoughts. The cute boy finally broke his pose and is leaning halfway over the edge of the roof like he's asking permission to cross the threshold. Like he's not sure if doing so would break this spell they're under either.

Spell, hallucinogenic spider venom. Potato, puh-tato.

There's a brief moment of panic while Ashton tries to decide if he should let him come over. On one hand, he really wants this boy closer. On the other, he's only doing a sketch of his fucking eyes.

Ashton nods against his better judgement, and just like that, there's a person climbing across and onto his roof.

Oh, he's blonde too. Fuck.

And then, Mr.  _Blonde_ _Hair/Blue Eyes/Perfect Smile_  is sitting right next to him. Of all the people who he could be sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with on a roof like they're in a bad American romance movie, he's on Ashton's. Ashton doesn't feel worthy. 

Then he feels stupid for it, because  _they just met._

He feels soft skin brush against his own while blondie peers over his shoulder to look at his drawing. Ashton doesn't think this much touching is necessary, but he certainly isn't complaining. Even if his skin is on fire where the stranger's arm touches his.

"Woah," is all the boy manages to say. Ashton dares a good look at his face and sees a sort of awestruck look. "Do my eyes really look like that?"

Feeling a bit bold, Ashton squirms around to cup his chin in his hand gently and  _finally_  get a good close look at his eyes. They're even prettier up close like this. "Yep, but I like the real ones better." 

This time it's mystery boy who's trying - in vain - to hide the blush creeping into his cheeks. Once that fails he looks back at Ashton's drawing. " _Portrait: Shadow Boy."_  He says, reading the title Ashton had given it. "I like that better then Luke. It makes me sound like a superhero."

So his name is Luke. Ashton likes it. It somehow fits

"And what is the artist's name, if I may ask?" Luke asks. And Ashton tells him.

"Well then, Ashton, I'm glad I got to see your art before it's in a big snooty art gallery some day. Because if I'm not in my bed when my mom goes to check on me, I won't live long enough to see that day personally" Luke stands up and brushes himself off. He's a lot taller than he looked before. 

Ashton wants to draw his legs next.

Luke takes a lumbering step across the gap separating their houses and turns to face Ashton. "G'Night, Picasso. May we meet again, if I survive the night." He does an awkward bow, and gives Ashton a big dopey grin before climbing through the open window.

Ashton checks his pulse and discovers he does in fact have a heartbeat, albeit hammering through every vein and artery in his body, but he's alive. Which practically rules out the possibility of a fatal spider bite causing.. _that_  to happen.

He looks down at his sketchbook and his drawing of Luke's eyes and finds himself smiling. He's definitely looking forward to seeing Luke again.


End file.
